LotR - The Third Age (XBOX/GameCUBE/PS2)

Mr_Nice_Guy

Edit history:

Mr_Nice_Guy: 2006-05-06 10:38:10 pm

2006-05-06 10:32:10 pm

Battle Is My Forte

A nice LotR RPG which is kinda like final fantasy battle style. I think it would be possible to get under 7 hours for each difficulty setting with a any % run.
With my current save, for a 100% easy, i have 2h15m at the Rohan plains, so it is possible for a 100% easy rune (dont know for medium and hard).

Would anyone be interested in doing this run? if not, then i will probably do this run after my MMBN2 run.

Only 1 question. Am i allowed to use evil mode (to get extra(best) equipement if i make a run with and a run without evil mode?
Doing Pellenar Field Evil mode gives you the ancient stones. Ancient stones with Idrial is 1HKO for almost everything in the first 3/4 of the game.

Suggested party:
Berethor => mostly weapon skills and Leadership a few battles to get Stand Fast (anti paralize entire battle, which is good at pellenor fields against Mumakil/Oliphaunts)
Idrial => Water attack and healing(aura+power of the valor later in game)
Hadhod => (strong attacks) Weapon skills just like Berethor.
reserve:
Rohan guy (forgot name)

Morwen has a high chance to miss targets even though she has the highest Dex. :-/
Elegost: only good in the beginning until you get hadhod. And his arrows of sleep are usless halfway trough the game (after helms deep).

Any more help would be appreciated, unless someone else want a crack at it =P
First MMBN2 and then i will do it (unless someone else does it first)

EDIT:
Saves are probably only needed for quick healing and before tough battles. Probably 1 or 2 segments per chapter (probably more with medium/Hard difficulty).

Also, running from battles cost lots of time, since each character has to run away. Fighting the battle is faster. And it takes too much time for berethor to learn Retreat All, since you need to use leadership a heck lot of times.

Thread title:

A nice LotR RPG which is kinda like final fantasy battle style. I think it would be possible to get under 7 hours for each difficulty setting with a any % run.
With my current save, for a 100% easy, i have 2h15m at the Rohan plains, so it is possible for a 100% easy rune (dont know for medium and hard).

Would anyone be interested in doing this run? if not, then i will probably do this run after my MMBN2 run.

Only 1 question. Am i allowed to use evil mode (to get extra(best) equipement if i make a run with and a run without evil mode?
Doing Pellenar Field Evil mode gives you the ancient stones. Ancient stones with Idrial is 1HKO for almost everything in the first 3/4 of the game.

Suggested party:
Berethor => mostly weapon skills and Leadership a few battles to get Stand Fast (anti paralize entire battle, which is good at pellenor fields against Mumakil/Oliphaunts)
Idrial => Water attack and healing(aura+power of the valor later in game)
Hadhod => (strong attacks) Weapon skills just like Berethor.
reserve:
Rohan guy (forgot name)

Morwen has a high chance to miss targets even though she has the highest Dex.  :-/
Elegost: only good in the beginning until you get hadhod. And his arrows of sleep are usless halfway trough the game (after helms deep).

Any more help would be appreciated, unless someone else want a crack at it =P
First MMBN2 and then i will do it (unless someone else does it first)

EDIT:
Saves are probably only needed for quick healing and before tough battles. Probably 1 or 2 segments per chapter (probably more with medium/Hard difficulty).

Also, running from battles cost lots of time, since each character has to run away. Fighting the battle is faster. And it takes too much time for berethor to learn Retreat All, since you need to use leadership a heck lot of times.

AquaTiger

Edit history:

AquaTiger: 2006-05-07 12:02:21 am

2006-05-06 11:57:37 pm

Never give up!

I never actually completed the game, because somehow I just never got hooked in. And since I traded in my copy of the game, I have no interest in buying it again just to do a run. However, I'd definitely be interested in watching a run. And doing some online strategy guide research, and pulling from my own knowledge of the game, I have some choice words.

One thing I DO know is that Idrial is a MUST in the front line. As for second and third party members, I'm not quite sure that Hadhod is the best idea. Also, I'm surprised you didn't favor Morwen, as I always had more success with Morwen (she only misses more than everyone else because she almost always attacks more times at once, I think) once I got her.

Despite that, I think Eaoden (the Rohan guy you're referring to - assuming that Rohan guy's a spear-wielder) should replace Hadhod at the front, with Morwen being the backup and Hadhod potentially being a second backup in true emergencies. Berethor's a good idea for the front line at least. And forget Elegost altogether - he's too weak.

Here's some skill recommendations:

Berethor: You should only need to worry about Leadership skills here. (Company Might, Company Valor, and Fellowship Grace are the most important ones to use.) However, Shattering Strike from the Sword Craft set may possibly be useful.

Idrial: Spirit Powers, Spirit Powers, Spirit Powers. (Especially Haste of the Elves and Gift of Galadriel, and probably even Cleanse Shadow or whatever the status-healing one was.) The only useful Sword Crafts in a speedrun context are Weakening Strike and Wounding Strike, if you can even hit with them.

Elegost: You won't need to worry about him. For the short time when he HAS to be in the front line, I'd say Arrow Flurry is your most important skill. If you're really desperate, Pierce Will might be useful, but by then you should have some alternative.

Hadhod: You want to stick to his Axe Craft. His Spirit Powers take too long to become effective. Although I only foresee desperate use of him regardless....

Morwen: Similar to Hadhod, you want to stick with Dual-Axe Craft here. Steal Item might be a Thief Craft skill to investigate, however.

Eaoden: You should have all the skills you truly NEED very quickly - Rupture Armor (trust me on this), Drain Health, Drain Spirit, and Channel Health are the most valuable. Dispel might come in handy on a few occasions.

Other options: Lightcraft's Gift of Galadriel might actually come in handy, and I think you can learn Haste of the Elves from Lightcraft as well. However, I believe Idrial's versions of both are sufficient, but if you really need to teach it to someone else via Lightcraft, I suggest Berethor, Morwen, or Hadhod. Shadowcraft is pointless IMO, and Craft Item only works if you're willing to use it a LOT.

Also, I seem to recall battles in this game where you took control of certain members of the Fellowship, or other characters, as fourth party members. I say abuse them when they occur to make the game go faster. No advice for handling them, though.....

Edit: Not sure about the validity of Evil Mode being incorporated into a run as extra segments. If there's a precedent for that kind of combined-mode setup already available on SDA, I'd like to hear it.

I never actually completed the game, because somehow I just never got hooked in.  And since I traded in my copy of the game, I have no interest in buying it again just to do a run.  However, I'd definitely be interested in watching a run.  And doing some online strategy guide research, and pulling from my own knowledge of the game, I have some choice words.

One thing I DO know is that Idrial is a MUST in the front line.  As for second and third party members, I'm not quite sure that Hadhod is the best idea.  Also, I'm surprised you didn't favor Morwen, as I always had more success with Morwen (she only misses more than everyone else because she almost always attacks more times at once, I think) once I got her.

Despite that, I think Eaoden (the Rohan guy you're referring to - assuming that Rohan guy's a spear-wielder) should replace Hadhod at the front, with Morwen being the backup and Hadhod potentially being a second backup in true emergencies.  Berethor's a good idea for the front line at least.  And forget Elegost altogether - he's too weak.

Here's some skill recommendations:

Berethor: You should only need to worry about Leadership skills here.  (Company Might, Company Valor, and Fellowship Grace are the most important ones to use.)  However, Shattering Strike from the Sword Craft set may possibly be useful.

Idrial: Spirit Powers, Spirit Powers, Spirit Powers.  (Especially Haste of the Elves and Gift of Galadriel, and probably even Cleanse Shadow or whatever the status-healing one was.)  The only useful Sword Crafts in a speedrun context are Weakening Strike and Wounding Strike, if you can even hit with them.

Elegost: You won't need to worry about him.  For the short time when he HAS to be in the front line, I'd say Arrow Flurry is your most important skill.  If you're really desperate, Pierce Will might be useful, but by then you should have some alternative.

Hadhod: You want to stick to his Axe Craft.  His Spirit Powers take too long to become effective.  Although I only foresee desperate use of him regardless....

Morwen: Similar to Hadhod, you want to stick with Dual-Axe Craft here.  Steal Item might be a Thief Craft skill to investigate, however.

Eaoden: You should have all the skills you truly NEED very quickly - Rupture Armor (trust me on this), Drain Health, Drain Spirit, and Channel Health are the most valuable.  Dispel might come in handy on a few occasions.

Other options: Lightcraft's Gift of Galadriel might actually come in handy, and I think you can learn Haste of the Elves from Lightcraft as well.  However, I believe Idrial's versions of both are sufficient, but if you really need to teach it to someone else via Lightcraft, I suggest Berethor, Morwen, or Hadhod.  Shadowcraft is pointless IMO, and Craft Item only works if you're willing to use it a LOT.

Also, I seem to recall battles in this game where you took control of certain members of the Fellowship, or other characters, as fourth party members.  I say abuse them when they occur to make the game go faster.  No advice for handling them, though.....

Edit: Not sure about the validity of Evil Mode being incorporated into a run as extra segments.  If there's a precedent for that kind of combined-mode setup already available on SDA, I'd like to hear it.

Mr_Nice_Guy

2006-05-07 03:20:36 pm

Battle Is My Forte

Haste of the elves doesnt work at all.
Tried it a few times and it didnt do anyhting.
Eaoden's dispel will certainly come in handy at Osgiliath (orcs who uses mirror or water shield).

Perhaps your morwen can hit a lot, but everytime when i play with her, she always misses.

My team untill eaoden joins:
Berethor
Idrial
Hadhod

Osgiliath Sewers (when Idrial is kidnapped):
Berethor
Hadhod
Eaoden

Rest of the game:
Berethor
Hadhod/Eaoden
Idrial

Hadhod mostly because he eventually gets the always Critical while in perfect mode passive skill. That and Morgul Decay (which removes foe's armor) is perfect against the Mumakils/Oliphaunts and the Witch King (except sauron).

atwyatt

2006-05-10 02:35:57 pm

Quote:

Haste of the elves doesnt work at all.

Morgul Decay (which removes foe's armor) is perfect against the Mumakils/Oliphaunts and the Witch King (except sauron).

I'm not a super pro at this game, but I used Haste of the Elves a lot on my damage-causing characters and it definitely helped me. I used it mainly on Berethor since I got Gondorian Rampage (the 5-hit combo) early in the game.

Also, I used Morgul Decay on Sauron himself, and it worked wonders. (It just about doubled the damage that Berethor caused.) My memory could be way off since it's been a while since I've played this, but I believe he was doing about 150,000 points of damage per turn.

I wasn't doing a speed run. So I just used my other 2 characters for healing and quickening Berethor.

Mr_Nice_Guy

2006-05-10 04:00:21 pm

Battle Is My Forte

Quote:

I'm not a super pro at this game, but I used Haste of the Elves a lot on my damage-causing characters and it definitely helped me. I used it mainly on Berethor since I got Gondorian Rampage (the 5-hit combo) early in the game.

Also, I used Morgul Decay on Sauron himself, and it worked wonders. (It just about doubled the damage that Berethor caused.) My memory could be way off since it's been a while since I've played this, but I believe he was doing about 150,000 points of damage per turn.

I wasn't doing a speed run. So I just used my other 2 characters for healing and quickening Berethor.

wow, your brothers characters must be Lv99 to do so much damage per turn.
Maybe Haste Of The Elves doesnt work with my XBOX version or something. And morgul Decay doesnt work with Hard Mode Sauron =(

Arnvidr

2006-05-15 09:08:01 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Idrial's sword craft are useless. Even way before getting to helm's deep she is practically unable to hit anything. Concentrate on her spirit powers to get the most out of her